Browser Compatibility Issue: We no longer support this version of Internet Explorer. For optimal site performance we recommend you update your browser to the latest version.Update Microsoft Internet Explorer

Press the Enter key or click the Search Icon to get general search results

2.

Click a suggested result to go directly to that page

3.

Click Search to get general search results based on this suggestion

4.

On Search Results page use Filters found in the left hand column to refine your search

Enable javascript

If you hold your hand toward the sun, a billion neutrinos will pass through it. But until now, no one’s ever seen or measured a single one.

Fueling Discovery

Operating under the harshest conditions on Earth, Analog Devices products are helping astrophysicists see what no one has ever seen before: cosmic neutrinos.

Frozen into place 1.5 miles beneath the Antarctic ice, ADI data converters and amplifiers help enable the world’s largest particle detector—named IceCube—to capture the notoriously elusive neutrinos.

“ADI components are at the heart of detecting neutrino collisions and transferring that information up and out of the ice,” said Michael DuVernois, IceCube Instrumentation Manager at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. “From the beginning, we had a high level of trust that ADI parts would perform in conditions below -40 ºF.”

As the parts couldn’t be replaced once positioned in an ice sheet that moves about 30 feet a year, it was critical to ensure their long-term reliability. “We expect the parts to be operating for another 20 years and the next-generation IceCube will include ADI,” DuVernois said.

Measuring the Immeasurable

Invisible, chargeless and nearly weightless, neutrinos zip through space at light speeds—easily passing through walls and sheets of ice. Building an observatory capable of seeing them took six years and $279 million.

Extreme temperatures, harsh conditions and the sheer size of the detector made the endeavor particularly challenging. However, scientists and engineers from a dozen countries found a way to bore holes deep into the Antarctic icecap. A special drill shot 200 gallons per minute of 190° F water at 1,000 psi to melt 86 openings 1km to 2km deep.

The team then lowered more than 5,000 light-collecting globes the size of basketballs into the holes. These spherical detectors—called digital optical modules (DOMs)—contain high-performance electronics, including sensors that measure the light emitted when neutrinos hit water molecules in the ice. Using ADI converters and amplifiers, the DOMs’ onboard communication system digitizes these signals to protect them as they travel a mile up to the surface.

Ushering in a New Era

Given neutrinos’ elusive nature, the number of particle showers detected by IceCube (28 and counting) surprised even Francis Halzen, the observatory’s principal investigator and physics professor at UW–Madison.

“We have finally discovered a flux of neutrinos coming from beyond the atmosphere. This is the dawn of a new age of astronomy,” Halzen commented after the discovery, which earned the observatory Physics World magazine’s “2013 Breakthrough of the Year.”

Cosmic neutrinos are expected to shed light on dark matter—the invisible mass that makes up most of the universe—and could unlock the origins of cosmic rays, supernova explosions and other cataclysmic events from which the particles originate.

In the meantime, IceCube continues to outperform design specifications. It will gather experimental data about particle collisions for another 20 years.

“This project had so many unique aspects for which no education can prepare you,” said Halzen. “Problems came up and they had to be solved,” he said. “That was the pleasure— helping to solve problems.”

SDR. Mixed Signal Innovation. Mission Critical Applications.

Taking the World's Pulse.

Science Fiction Becomes Fact.

Analog Devices Uses Cookies for Enhanced Online Performance

Some cookies are required for secure log-ins but others are optional for functional activities. Our data collection is used to improve our products and services. We recommend you accept our cookies to ensure you’re receiving the best performance and functionality our site can provide. For additional information you may view the cookie details. Read more about our privacy policy.

These are cookies that are required for the operation of analog.com or specific functionality offered. They either serve the sole purpose of carrying out network transmissions or are strictly necessary to provide an online service explicitly requested by you.

Analytics/Performance Cookies:

These cookies allow us to carry out web analytics or other forms of audience measuring such as recognizing and counting the number of visitors and seeing how visitors move around our website. This helps us to improve the way the website works, for example, by ensuring that users are easily finding what they are looking for.

Functionality Cookies:

These cookies are used to recognize you when you return to our website. This enables us to personalize our content for you, greet you by name and remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region). Loss of the information in these cookies may make our services less functional, but would not prevent the website from working.

Targeting/Profiling Cookies:

These cookies record your visit to our website and/or your use of the services, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed. We will use this information to make the website and the advertising displayed on it more relevant to your interests. We may also share this information with third parties for this purpose.

Interested in the latest news and articles about ADI products, design tools, training and events? Choose from one of our 12 newsletters that match your product area of interest, delivered monthly or quarterly to your inbox.